I have been accepted to attend Emory university as a freshman. I love the school and what it has to offer. However, I would like to know more about the student body. I know Emory is much more diverse in terms of demographics compared to most universities, but I have also read that there is a growing Asian population, a lot of the kids come from a family of means, and there is a sense of elitism among some students. Can someone shed some light on how minorities interact with the student body? I don’t, in any way, have negative feelings towards anyone because of their heritage, I just want to know how accepting the student body is of people different from them.
I wouldn’t consider Asians a minority. There are too many to be considered a minority- unless you’re Filipino or something and don’t count yourself in the same bucket as other Asian countries.
Emory is really no different from other elite privates (extremely expensive and thus naturally biased toward those who could afford it and the preparation and grooming to be prepared), though maybe slightly more economically diverse because many more people come in as Questbridge Scholars. As for “growing Asian population”, this is not Vandy or Notre Dame, the Asian population has always been pretty large since Emory rushed itself to relevance, approaching or higher than 30% in some freshman classes. And cliques tend to form along geographic lines (such as many northerners are from Long Island and went to similar or the same school so it isn’t surprising when they clique up) however, there isn’t much intentional classicism or racism, only the traditional creation of “spaces” among certain groups (such as internationals or African Americans), and some deem this as self-segregation, however that isn’t really true and the same phenomenon is prevalent at other elites (especially at top STEM schools like MIT and Georgia Tech where many organizations and programs will be created and geared toward under-represented minorities to increase chances of success in traditionally difficult disciplines. Emory has similar programs). Even with these ethnically centered “spaces”, most students (excluding a huge chunk of internationals) will have pretty diverse peer groups. Also, a solid majority of Emory undergraduates are “minorities”. Last class was like 25% Asian and 22% URM, and maybe 5-10% multi-racial or unspecified ethnicity. Whites typically only comprise 40-45% of any incoming class and a significant amount of them are Jewish-as in most may be Jewish. Emory has been as high as 35% Jewish meaning most people marking white were probably Jewish. Given this, when things like acts of intolerance happen (they do happen every now and then like elsewhere), it is usually coming from someone whose feelings comprise a very small minority.
My D is a Spanish and creative writing major (junior), but hasn’t had any issues making friends in different ethnic circles. She tutors ESL students (mostly Chinese) who tend to hang out with other international students, she said.
One reason she decided to attend Emory was because it is such a diverse community in comparison to most private universities. Her diverse friendships are mostly due to common interests like orchestra, dance or a community service group, or her job, where you have a better chance to get to know people better. One of her best friends (and suitemate last year) is Hispanic; she mentioned that the Latin events she has attended on occasion weren’t that well attended.
Perhaps the fact that Greek life is not overwhelming here (compared to Vandy or UVA), performing arts are more popular than sports, and the popularity of so many community service organizations attracts a certain type of student to Emory.
Like any top private university, Emory has many wealthy students but my D. doesn’t feel uncomfortable (we’re middle class.) She (and many international students) cannot afford to fly to fancy places over spring break: Emory offers community service alternatives nearby, or students can do inexpensive day trips in Atlanta or parts of Georgia.
Emory ranked 6th (Harvard was 7th) in a recent survey of the no. of students on Pell grants in private universities. There are quite a few students on work study, merit scholarships (some geared towards drawing diverse students from Atlanta) and Questbridge, as bernie12 says.